KANYE OR LEBRON?
Style winning over sneaker fans
“Everyone wanted to be like Mike. ... ( Now), everyone wants to be like Kanye.” Yu- Ming Wu, publisher of Sneakernews. com
The most coveted sneakers this holiday may be more suited for the runway than a basketball court.
Athletic shoe aficionados are being courted by an array of styles, celebrity collaborations and innovative experiences as the $ 17 billion industry sweats to win fickle shoppers.
When it comes to the most popular shoes, fashion and celebrity often matter more than function. Superstar rapper Kendrick Lamar is collaborating with Nike. Producer and singer Pharrell Williams has a line of shoes under the Adidas banner. Fenty, a partnership between Puma and pop icon Rihanna, is among the hot shoes.
And rather than a single, signature shoe dominating the scene like Nike’s original Air Jordan did in the 1980s, Adidas UltraBOOST, Nike’s Air Force 1 and Puma’s Blaze are among the ath- letic shoes sharing the spotlight.
“It’s a time where every sneaker company out there is doing something interesting and there’s so much variety available when you walk into a store,” says Yu- Ming Wu, publisher of Sneakernews. com.
While shoes that boosted athletic performance were the sales champions just a few years ago, the all- stars this holiday season are predicted to be sneakers focused more on style than improving a jump shot or boosting a runner in the 30- yard dash.
Sales of fashion sneakers are expected to grow 15% to 25% from last year, says Manik Aryapadi, a principal in the retail practice of A. T. Kearney, a consulting firm. Sales of athletic sneakers “will see a downward dip, and their overall share of the sneaker segment will continue to decrease.”
Sales of basketball shoes, in particular, have been sliding, says Matt Powell, sports industry analyst at The NPD Group. Sales plunged 20% in August alone, with Nike, Under Armour and Brand Jordan experiencing a slump in that category. Slower sales of basketball shoes were a factor that led to Under Armour’s 4.5% thirdquarter revenue decline and less optimistic outlook for the full year.
Jason Cacho, 34, of San Francisco, still likes sneakers that have an athlete’s stamp of approval. But, he says, “while athletes have been the pinnacle of advertisements, the recent involvement of celebrities have propelled the popularity of sneakers by tapping into different demographics.”
“Whether it’s Kanye West or Rihanna,” says Aryapadi, the trend has “moved to being more . . . celebrity oriented.”
Today, it may be the Yeezy, rapper West’s sneaker collaboration with Adidas, that comes closest to the frenzy that greeted the original Air Jordans a generation ago.